Beer is proof ......

"Beer is proof that god wants us to be happy."
Benjamin Franklin

If that's the way ya wanna measure it, then everybody here must be very,
very, very, happy.

I went for groceries with the Winnipeg crew the first night we got here. We
went to one of the meganormous American grocery stores that sells everything
from lawn furniture to fresh fruit. It probably would have turned out okay
except that we had already been drinking heavily at the Bomb Shelter (the DZ
bar) by the time we went in there, and consequently when we left all that we
had bought was a couple of grocery carts full of junk food and beer. At
least we're in the states so the only thing cheaper than the junk food is
the beer. We did a couple of jumps yesterday, then after hitting the Bomb
Shelter again, we returned to the grocery store to get some real food, but
wound up buying more junk food and beer. We started the camp this morning,
and one of the first things Doug Forth did was appoint a Beer Cop. When
anybody makes a serious error or breach of etiquette, or achieves a
significant milestone, he imposes a fine that is to be paid in beer. He
calls it "The Nectar Of Knowledge". That's 'cause at the end of the day
everybody hangs out, drinks beer, swaps skydiving stories, and much learning
takes place. At the end of the day there were a dozen cases of beer lined up
along the platform they were using as a podium. But we weren't allowed to
have any until the last planeload of skydivers for the day had left the
ground, so as soon as we were released for the day we went straight to the
bomb shelter and..........

Notice a pattern developing? Around here dinner doesn't get served, it gets
poured. "There's a pork chop in every bottle!" Declared Brian after he had
consumed the equivalent of one whole side of a pig.
It's now Thursday morning. And it's St Patricks day. This probably won't end
well.

Oh yeah, it seems such a minor thing I almost forgot: we also did some
skydives. With varying degrees of success. I did my part, I flew my slot,
mostly, and to my great surprise nobody tried to kill me. Yet. The turnout
is low because a bunch of people dropped off the camp after St Esprit
announced that they would be making an attempt at setting a record this
summer. In theory there will be just enough people here to set a record, but
some people who are here probably won't be capable of it even after the
camp. We spent the day doing 20-ways using 2 aircraft. 10 People would get
on each Otter, we'd climb to altitude, everbody would pile out and meet in
the middle to attempt to build a formation. I stress the word attempt. By
the end of the day it wasn't going too bad, but a few people were still
having trouble not sinking out.

The most interesting development was back home. Every time I leave on one of
these trips I give strict instructions to the staff to burn the place to the
ground while I'm gone. Then I could just continue merrily along, skydiving
my way through the insurance money. Beechwood Home Hardware burned to the
ground yesterday, taking most of the city block with it. Somebody must have
misunderstood my instructions.